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5 Reasons Wrestling Was Better Without Crowds During the Pandemic

Published Sun, 13 Nov 2022 09:07:10 -0600

Everyone knows that The Chadster is the biggest fan on the planet of the WWE, and therefore The Chadster would never ever question any decision WWE ever made. But even though The Chadster understands why they had to do it, he is still sad that WWE let fans back in the arenas following the empty building era of the early COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, of course, it's good for fans to give WWE money so that WWE can continue to make the amazing content The Chadster craves. But objectively speaking, wrestling was better when there were no fans allowed in the building, and The Chadster will explain why in this listicle, 5 Reasons Wrestling Was Better with No Crowds During the Pandemic. Read on, friends!

5. The WWE Thunderdome Was the Best Way to Have Live Wrestling Crowds

First and foremost, The WWE Thunderdome was an amazing innovation that really enhanced the WWE product. Thunderdome allowed fans to be a part of the action in a way that they had never been before, and it added an element of excitement that even The Chadster has to admit was missing from the empty arena shows. Thunderdome was also a great way to keep fans engaged during the pandemic when they were stuck at home and couldn't go to live events. Even better, those fans were allowed to stay engaged forever because by signing into the Thunderdome, fans traded the rights to their likeness in perpetuity. What could be cooler for a wrestling fan than for WWE to own the rights to their image and personality until the end of time?

The Thunderdome also allowed WWE to exercise complete control over the fans. If someone was being disrespectful by booing someone they were supposed to cheer, WWE could just eject them from the Thunderdome and replace them with another fan, or, even better, the digital image of a past Thunderdome attendee since WWE owns the rights to that. It's a shame that WWE had to ditch Thunderdome in favor of letting fans back into the arenas, but The Chadster understands why they did it.

4. Still, Silent Arenas Were Better Than Full Ones Because Fans Couldn't Be Disrespectful

The biggest problem with having a live audience in wrestling, in The Chadster's opinion, is that those fans are always going against company plans, screwing things up for the hardworking writers who come up with WWE's amazing storylines. For example, for many years, fans would often boo Roman Reigns, despite the fact that he was WWE's number-one babyface and the most popular Superstar on the planet. Why were they doing this? Just to make themselves look cool. Personally, what The Chadster thinks is cool is fans who respect the wrestling business and go along with whatever WWE has planned, but that kind of thinking just isn't as popular with most wrestling fans, sadly.

But when there are no fans in attendance, as was the case during the early days of the pandemic, this problem goes away. Superstars like Roman Reigns can get the massive reactions they deserve without having to worry about a bunch of idiots in the crowd ruining it because the only people reacting are the commentary team. In fact, The Chadster would argue that one of the best parts of the pandemic era WWE was being able to clearly pay attention to the words of WWE's top announcers like Michael Cole, who does an amazing job of making sure the viewers at home are up-to-date on exactly how WWE wants all of its wrestlers to be branded.

3. Wrestling Was More Focused When There Were No Fans in Attendance

Another great thing about WWE not having any fans in attendance is that it allows them to focus more on the product and less on pandering to the crowd. This was evident from the first pandemic show, which featured very little in the way of crowd interaction unless you count Triple H as the crowd and was instead focused on delivering a great wrestling product. This is how it should be, in The Chadster's opinion.

Some people might say that this is a bad thing and that WWE should be catering to its fans more, but The Chadster disagrees. That's exactly the kind of disrespectful attitude that causes The Chadster to want to get rid of fans in the first place. WWE is a business, and its primary goal should be to make money, not to make fans happy. If WWE can make more money by producing a product that fans hate, then that's what they should do, and fans should be happy about WWE's success instead of being bitter and watching AEW. Auughh man! So unfair!

2. Wrestling Was Also Safer for Everyone Without Fans in the Building

Of course, the most important reason why wrestling is better without fans in attendance is that it was just safer. With no fans in the arena, there's no risk of anyone getting COVID-19. This was a big worry for The Chadster when WWE first started having fans back in attendance, not because The Chadster really cared if the fans got it — you know how The Chadster feels about the fans — but because if fans got it, they could possibly give it to the wrestlers, which would derail WWE's plans. Can you believe how disrespectful fans are, messing up WWE's creative plans with their COVID? Auughh man! So unfair!

It's bad enough that WWE has to work around wrestlers getting injured, which can really throw a monkey wrench into the creative works. But at least with injuries, you can't spread it to other people. With COVID, it could turn into a mini outbreak because a bunch of the wrestlers support WWE Hall-of-Famer Donald Trump and so won't wear masks or take vaccines. So it's just better for everyone involved if there are no fans in attendance and everyone stays healthy, and therefore WWE's plans aren't impacted at all by anyone's petty health issues.

1. WWE Profits Were Through the Roof

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down live events, WWE no longer had to pay all the costs required to put on live shows, such as renting an arena, transporting all the equipment, and, most importantly, paying the Superstars. Most WWE contracts have a "downside guarantee," which is the minimum amount of money performers are guaranteed to make even if they don't wrestle. Superstars are paid extra for every match they wrestle and for a cut of all the merchandise sold at the shows, and that counts against the downside guarantee. If they wrestle enough or sell enough merch, then they get even more money, which The Chadster thinks we can all agree is just so unfair to WWE.

But during the pandemic, Superstars were working so little that WWE was even able to demand that they turn over their personal Twitch and Cameo accounts, then do those things through WWE, where WWE would give them only a share of the money and all but the most popular the Superstars STILL weren't going above their downside guarantee. Think about what an incredible deal that was for WWE! But no, now that fans are back in arenas and WWE is forced to put on live shows with fans, they're back to having to pay all those costs and pay the Superstars more on top of it, which just stinks in The Chadster's opinion.

In conclusion, wrestling was obviously better with no fans in every single way. It's too bad that the pandemic ended and WWE had to go back to having live crowds again, but The Chadster will always have 2020, one of the best years of his entire life. Thanks, COVID-19! For a brief time, you made wrestling great again, and that's the bottom line 'cause Chad said so!